Spiritually

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Geistlich (from old high- German Geistlīh , loan translation from Latin spiritualis ) refers to the spirit (in the Christian sense); it is the translation of the Greek pneumatikos or the Latin spiritualis .

In everyday language, spiritual means something like pious , religious or in relation to the church . It can thus be clearly distinguished from the similar-sounding adjective spiritual , although both adjectives are derived from the same noun. While spiritual is used more generally in the sense of relating to the spirit or intellect , spiritual has the narrower meaning relating to the church of God .

In Christian theology it is also used spiritually to describe the Christian life under the renewing and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.

The different meanings of spiritual can be illustrated by the following pairs of opposites:

  1. spiritual - secular (also: profane ):

With spiritual things and facts of the church area are meant: z. B. clerical office , clerical property , clerical music . (Partial) synonyms are clerical , ecclesiastic , monastic .

2. In Christian theology : spiritual - carnal .

In the New Testament and in other religious texts, spiritual is often the opposite of carnal ( carnal not always only means the body, but sometimes also the whole unsaved person).

Example texts ( Luther Bible )
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  • Matthew 26:41:
The mind is willing; the flesh is weak .
For what man knows what is in man other than the spirit of man who is in him? So no one knows what is in God but the Spirit of God alone. But we did not receive the spirit of the world, but the spirit from God, so that we can know what has been given to us by God. And we do not speak of it with words such as can teach human wisdom, but with words that the spirit teaches, and we interpret spiritual things for spiritual people. But the natural (“soul”) person does not hear anything from the Spirit of God; it is foolish to him and he cannot see it; for it has to be judged spiritually.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: spiritual  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eberhard Hahn: Art. Geist, Heiliger, systematic-theological, section 4 . In: Evangelical Lexicon for Theology and Congregation . R. Brockhaus, Wuppertal 1993, Vol. 2: H-Q , p. 687.
  2. ↑ The flesh and redemption
  3. ↑ Mentally and spiritually